Correcting in class- Step 2

Discuss your trainees’ answers in plenary. Some possible responses:

1. Teachers should interrupt learners when they make a mistake or error when…

• They want learners to be accurate, for example when presenting a new

structure and learners are practicing it for the first time.

• The main aim of a group task is practicing something and learners are
constantly wrong. For example; if you are practicing past tense questions and a
majority of learners in a group is consistently making the same error, Did he
comes** on Saturday?, you might stop the group work and remind the whole
class of the correct form.

2. Teachers can give delayed feedback in the following situation…

• If learners are in the middle of an activity (e.g. role-play or a group

discussion); you can make a note of errors and wait until the activity is finished
to correct them (here, fluency and effective communication are aims).

3. Some errors or mistakes should remain uncorrected by the teacher, for example…

• In the middle of a role-play or group work.

• If a shy or not very strong learner is daring to communicate.

• If a learner is trying to express a complex idea.

• If a learner is trying to express something of personal significance or emotional

content: the message is more important than correct English.

4. Teachers can correct learners in different ways according to the type of tasks which
they do, for example…

• During fluency activities, errors aren’t ignored totally: you can monitor a
group or pair work activity, making a note of common errors to return to.

• If the aim is accuracy, a teacher might correct more frequently.

5. Teachers can vary their error correction strategies according to learners’ personalities,
by…

• Correcting shy learners less, and encouraging them to communicate.

• Correcting stronger Ls more, so they are challenged.

6. Teachers can help learners to self-correct or to correct each other’s spoken errors by…
 • Making a gesture, stopping the learner, giving a questioning look or saying
Er…? The learner then tries to say the correct thing.

• Indicating the nature of the error, by saying, for example, Past tense

• Stressing the incorrect form to indicate where the error is: He GOED** to
Moscow?

• Repeating the sentence up to where the error was made and then leaving gap
for the learner to provide the correction. For example, a learner says I went
at**school and the teacher says, I went…?

• Repeating the sentence with a questioning intonation, indicating there is a error

somewhere: ‘I went at** school?’

• Asking the whole class for the correct form.

• Asking another learner for a correct response and then asking the learner who
made the error to repeat the correct form.

• Writing the incorrect language on the blackboard and asking the learners to
think of the correct form.

• Asking a learner to write down errors made and corrects them at the end of the
activity.

7. Some advantages of self-correction and peer correction:

• The teacher learns how much her learners do and do not know.

• Learners really listen more to each other and understand they can learn from each
other.

• Learners might begin to correct each other independently in group and/or pair
work if the teacher encourages peer correction in whole-class activities.

• Learners feel more confident and independent.

• Learners discover they do know the right answer.

8. Some disadvantages of self-correction and peer correction:

• Some learners might feel superior to others.

• Some learners in some cultures are not used to criticizing each other.

• The same two or three people might always answer.

• The learner who is corrected might feel embarrassed and not contribute so well in
the future classes.
9. Five practical ways of giving feedback on spoken errors:

• The teacher writes down individual learners’ errors on a small piece of paper and
hands each learner their own errors and the corrections.

• Teacher gives an explanation about why something is wrong.

• Observers are used (for example, in group work) who write down errors and give
feedback later.

• The teacher says gently That was wrong; it should be…

• The teacher tells the learner the correct answer.

• The teacher monitors group or pair work, making a note of incorrect sentences or
words and then gives feedback after the activity is over, either orally or by writing
the errors on the board and asking for the corrections.

• The teacher prepares a remedial lesson on problems which are common to many
members of group.

• The teacher writes the errors on the board; the class corrects them together, or
corrects them in pairs or groups.

• The teacher prepares a worksheet on errors for next lesson.

10. Answers are individual.

TASK 6 – What I would do

This activity aims to see how far trainees can now decide on error correction techniques
for spoken errors and mistakes. Some suggested answers:

1. a. Repeat the sentence with a questioning intonation, emphasizing Have you ever
WENT?, thus indicating where the error is.

b. Give a short explanation about the difference between the past and present perfect
tenses (if we know where, then it would be the past tense) and ask the learner the
question again.
 c. Ask another learner, elicit the correct answer; return to the first learner who made
the error and ask him to repeat the correct answer.

2. a. Ask learners, I am GO? to see if they can self-correct.

b. Remind learners of the difference between the present simple and continuous
tenses.

3. a. Ask another learner, elicit the correct answer and return to the first learner who
might be able to self-correct.

b. Do not correct at all: the aim is to discuss the trip, not grammar. Return to let’s at
another time.

c. Say yourself, Let’s go swimming and hope the learner hears and remembers the
correct form.

4. a. Ask the learner, How old is she? and hope the learner can self-correct.

b. Say with rising intonation, Three and seventy? and hope the learner can self-
correct.

c. Ask the class. Is that right, three and seventy? and hope another learner corrects the
error.

5. a. Pick up another object, belonging to a male learner, and say, They are his; ask first
learner again, Whose keys are these? and hope the learner can self-correct.

b. Ask the learner with the rising intonation, They’re him? thus indicating an error; try
to elicit correct answer.

c. Say gently, They’re HIS and ask learner to repeat after you.

6. a. Stop the class working and remind them to use, We are going…

b. Go around each group, reminding them to use, We are going…

c. Do a revision lesson next time on We are going; leave the error this time.

7. Similar answers to situation 5.

8. a. At the end of the reading, ask whole class to repeat ready and happened in chorus.

b. Ask some Ls to repeat the words individually.

9. Similar answers to situation 5.

10. a. Ignore the error; the aim of the activity is communication.

b. Say, You want to go to the Chinese restaurant, do you? And hope the learner hears
and remembers the correct form.